Book construction



Oct. 11, F, s SCHADE 2,132,542

BOOK CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 28, 1936 IINVENTOR FRANK Stan/15y 621/405 Patented Oct. 11, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENTOVFFICE BOOK CONSTRUCTION Application February 28, 1936, Serial No. 66,266

13 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved book binding construction. Its character is best disclosed by the accompanying drawing and following description.

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a plan view of an open book embodying the invention; I

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the back panel element of Fig. 1 before being built into the binding case;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of the element in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail View partly in section as indicated on line 4-4 of Fig, 1;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 shows a detail modified portion of the element in Fig. 3; and

Fig. '7 shows in section a modifiedform of the element in Fig. 2.

Referring'to these figures, I will show several Ways to practice my invention. I punch out of metal strip I, a series of ears 2 along the center line of the plate and bend these ears 2 perpendicular to the plate as in Fig. 3. Viewed from the side, ears 2 appear like a series of collar buttons. Viewed from the top or ends the ears appear like simple tabs arranged perpendicular to plate I along its center line.

As shown, plate 8 is built into a binder case as the body of the back panel. This may be given the curved form of Fig. 5. The body portions or panels I and 8 of the covers may be of cardboard. The panels are covered with a suitable decorative outer sheet 6 extending over all panels. Sheet 6 is folded along the edges of cover and back panels, as shown in the lower left hand broken out part of Fig. 1. Then liner sheet material 5 is fastened on the inside of all panels. The ears 2 extend through the sheet material 5 on the inside of the back panel, see Figs. l and 5. The liner sheet 5 may be in single sheet form, with openings for ears 2 or of two sheet form with abutting edges along the center line of the back panel and notched to fit around the ears 2. The material of sheets 5 and 6 is flexible to make hinges between the back panel and cover portions, which will be clear from Fig. 5.

It will be seen up to this point that I have built up a book binding case, using only the material.

for such a case. The variation is that I have punched out tabs from the material of the back panel and bent them up perpendicular to the back panel to lie in spaced position in the central perpendicular plane of the back panel. In this way I have provided not only the book binding case but also attaching means, without additional material, to fasten filler sheet rings to the back panel and to function in a Way that I will now describe.

In Figs, 1, l, and 5 the filler sheets i l are shown held together independently of the binding case by the single coiled wire 4 threaded through margin perforations l2 in the sheets. Thus the filler sheets may be handled as a unit. Other known types of ring binders may be used for this purpose. For example the type in which the wire coils are arranged perpendicular to the axis (and usually connected by wire portions parallel to the axis) rather than wound spirally. Filler sheets, thus hung on coils, are mounted in my binding case by perpendicular pressure of the coiled wire along the center line of the back panel. That is the coiled wire is laid along the center line of the back panel and simply pressed down into the position it is to occupy in the bound book. This is an extremely simple assembly operation, in which it will be understood that the spaced buttons 2 with rounded top edges will each wedge its way between two adjacent coils and button down the edges of such coils. The final position is shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. It will be understood that the spacing of the coils of wire 4 and-the spacing of the buttons 2 are preferably such that in making the attachment the only relative movement is that of the coils against the buttons and the very slight spreading of those few coils which are chosen to directly engage the buttons 2. The heads of the buttons are preferably dimensioned so that when they span'the distance between two coils, as in Fig. 4, the coils engaged by the buttons are in their normal position just as the coils that are not engaged by the buttons 2. That is, I prefer to make the shank of the button 'no wider in the dimension parallel to the wire coil axis than the normal spacing of wire coils. This is a matter of detail preference,

In the illustrated example I show only five buttons on the back panel, but they are provided in a construction which will hold over twenty coils or rings in satisfactory position on the back panel. This is accomplished with a minimum use of material, an extremely simple movement of book elements for assembly, and an almost complete obliteration of attaching means for holding rings to the back panel of a book binding case. As amatter of fact, the binding case as I have shown it in the described form, has no material added to it by reason of my construction of ring attaching means for the binding case. A very small part of the normal material used in the back panel portion of the binding case isj'used instead of additional material.

The form of the button may vary, for example, I have shown in Fig. 6 a tab 2' that will button over one wire coil instead of two coils as the form 2 will do. The forms of buttons 2 or 2 or others may be varied in the same book. Instead of curving the back panel of the binding case trans- Versely I may use it fiat. In some practical instances it may be desirable to use a complete binding case of back panel and hinged covers and attach a metal plate I carrying ears 2 to the inside face of the back panel. For example, if it is desired to use a common form of binding case the metal plate I with ears 2 may be simply attached as by riveting without going into the construction of the back panel per se. But I prefer the latter construction as I have described it, because according to one object of my invention I want to avoid the use of any additional material in adding the means to attach the rings to the back panel of the book. In other words, the preferred'form of my invention is to reduce structural combination to the binding case and the filler sheets and rings without adding material for the attaching means to fasten the rings onto the back panel.

It will be clear that the ring wire can be unbuttoned from the back panel in the described construction. Thus the new book has the advantage of readily replaceable filler units. To manipulate the book in assembly and disassembly operations there are no complications. The passage of the aligned coils over each button head causes such an extremely minute and temporary spreading of the coils as to be negligible with respect to distorting the elements of the ring structure as it is put together with the binder case or taken out of the binder case.

In Fig. '7 I show an extension of the invention to make a modified form of book in which a plurality of filler packs, each with its own coiled wire binder, are mounted in one book binder case to make a new combination. By this means I can make a thicker book than by the simpler construction of Figs. 1 and 5. To simplify the drawing, I show this modification of Fig. '7 in cross section only, omitting the sheets of the book and showing only the arrangement of the rings and their attachment to the back panel. The back panel is 2G, in this case conveniently shown flat although it might also be curved. It will be understood that the metal plate 2| of this back panel has a series of spaced ears Z2 struck up along spaced longitudinal lines A, B, C and D. Each series is like the series of Figs. 2 and 3 except in Fig. 7 it will be understood that they extend along desirably spaced lines A, B, C and D, rather than along the center line of the panel.

Each longitudinal series of ears is adapted to be buttoned onto its own separate coiled wire binder element 23 in the same manner as coiled wire 4 is buttoned onto ears 2 of Figs. '1, 4 and 5. But in the grouped arrangement I prefer to locate the parts so that the'wire coils of one pack will slightly nest with those of the adjacent pack and have so indicated them in Fig. '7. But it may in some instances be desirable to space them so they will not nest. This is of course accomplished by so spacing the lines A, B, C and D with relation to the diameter of the rings that the latter do not overlap from one group to another. Fig. '7 is only a skeletonized view but the procedure in making up a full and thick book according to Fig. '7 will be understood from the described operation of the unit construction of Fig. 1.

Having fully disclosed my invention in its preferred and some modified forms, the following claims are made to protect it as fully as the prior art will permit.

I claim:

'1. A book construction, comprising a back panel and hinged cover panels, a pack of sheets hung on a coiled wire binding means, and buttons having shank portions attached to the back panel portion, said buttons having a head construction with a cross-section lying parallel to the axis of the wire coils and longer than the normal space between adjacent coils and constructed so as to button into the spaces between wire coils of the binding means by springing said coils apart in the assembly of the book.

2. The combination of claim 1 and said buttons being flat and arranged in a vertical plane along the central line of the back panel.

3. A book construction comprising a back panel having as its body portion a sheet metal strip with spaced buttons having shank portions turned up from the metal, cover portions hinged to the back panel by overlying flexible sheet material pasted on both the back panel and cover portions with openings for the turned up buttons, a pack of filler sheets and a coiled wire binder element attached to said pack, the spaces between the coils of the wire binder being adapted to receive said buttons by springing the adjacent coils apart as they pass over the heads of the buttons to fasten the pack of sheets and its binder to the back panel.-

4. The combination of claim 3 and said buttons extending flatwise in the central vertical plane of the back panel.

5. In a book construction, a thin back panel plate having buttons with shanks bent up from the material of the'plate and extending towards the inside of the book and spaced along a longitudinal line of the plat-e, each button having a wedge-shaped double sloping top edge and flat sides, all in combination and in assembled relation with a coiled wire binder whose ring coils are spaced apart substantially the distance of the button shank and less than the distance of the button head whereby the coils may be buttoned to the back panel by straight down pressure of the coils against the buttons and a pack of sheets hung on the coils of said construction.

6. A book construction having a back panel, widely spaced buttons having heads and shanks fastened along the inside face of the back panel, a pack of sheets, a coiled wire binder having the coils closely spaced with relation to the wide spacing of the buttons, the heads of said buttons being slightly greater in dimension lengthwise of the panel than the spacing of the coils and the shanks of said buttons being dimensioned about equal to such spacing, all arranged and adapted in or for assembled relation.

'7. A ring binder book comprising a pack of sheets, a series of rings one joined to another on which the sheets are hung, a holder for the rings consisting in a plate having upturned flat portions in general shape like a collar button, the heads of said portions being dimensioned towedge their way between a pair of rings and hold the latter to said plate, all arranged and adapted in or for assembled relation.

8. A book construction including a series of coiled wire binder elements each adapted to carry a pack of sheets, a back panel member, a separate single longitudinal row of upstanding buttons having shank portions and extending toward the inside of the book on the back panel for each wire binder element, each button having a wedge-shaped double sloping top edge, said buttons being adapted to be buttoned and unbuttoned to a coiled wire binder element between two of its coils, whereby a thick book may be carried with the sheet edges close to the back panel by superposed sheet packs each bound by a coiled wire binder'of small diameter relative to the thickness of the book and all held on the back panel by said buttons, and a pack of sheets hung on the coils of said construction, all arranged and adapted in or for assembled relation.

9. The construction of claim 8 and said coiled wire binding elements slightly overlapping in a nested condition held by the buttons on the back panel.

10. In a book binding structure the combination of a rigid metal button having a head and shank made of thin fiat metal all in one plane, the top edge of said button being arch shaped, an integral supporting plate arranged at right angles to the button and extending longitudinally of the button head, other buttons of like kind integral with said plate and with their fiat construction lying in the same vertical plane in substantial spaced positions along said plate as a series, a coiled wire binder consisting of many more turns than there are buttons, the space between adjacent turns being just enough to permit adjacent coils to snap over said button heads as the wire is laid on and pressed down along the line of said buttons, and a pack of sheets hung on the coils of said construction, all arranged and adapted in or for assembled relation.

11. The combination of claim 10 in which the shanks of said buttons are substantially the same width as the spacing between said coils and the length of said shanks is substantially the same dimension as the diameter of the wire used to make the binding coils.

12. A book comprising in combination a binding panel, book sheets, a coiled wire binding element on which the sheets are hung for turning, a series of spaced hook members fastened along the back panel and extending upwardly therefrom towards the coiled binder, each upstanding hook consisting of a cam surface and two oppositely disposed barbs all arranged for the cam surface to crowd adjacent turns of the coiled wire apart as they are pressed down on the upstanding hook and leave the turns anchored in position in back of and under the barbs and in their normal position when the wire is completely inserted, all arranged and adapted in or for assembled relation.

13. A book construction, comprising a back panel and hinged cover panels, a pack of sheets hung on a coiled wire binding means, and buttons with shank portions attached to the back panel, said buttons having a head construction with its major axis lying parallel to the axis of the wire coils and longer than the normal space between adjacent coils and constructed so as to button into the spaces between wire coils of the binding means by springing said coils apart in the assembly of the book.

FRANK STANLEY SCI-IADE. 

